Top 25 Most Frugal Cities of 2012

Greater Atlanta residents certainly know how to stretch a dollar, as the Georgia capital retained the number one ranking on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list for the fourth straight year, according to the 2012 Coupons.com Savings Index1. Orlando took the number two position, with Tampa, Nashville and Charlotte rounding out the top five.

“305 billion coupons were distributed in the U.S. in 2012, giving consumers more than $450 billion in potential savings. That’s more than the gross national product of most countries,” said Jeanette Pavini, Coupons.com household savings expert. “And, while saving money is a priority in every region across the United States, the Midwest dominates the most frugal U.S. cities list, with more than double the number of cities than any other region.”

Sacramento made the biggest jump on the overall list, moving to the number nine spot after not making the top 25 in 2011, while Boston jumped 19 spots, from #26 in 2011 to #7 in 2012. The overall rankings saw three additional cities crack the top 25 list for the first time, including San Francisco, Detroit and Las Vegas, while five cities dropped off the list this year: Raleigh, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis and Providence.

The South holds the top spots on the list but that still couldn’t keep it from being edged out by the number one region overall – the Midwest. Eleven cities helped the Heartland grab almost half of the spots in the top 25.

Ohio remains the country’s most frugal state. The Buckeye state is represented three times on the list – Cleveland (#8), Columbus (#12) and Cincinnati (#13).

1Coupons.com Savings Index ranks greater metro areas (with a population of 1,500,000 or more) based on each area’s total issued coupon savings (including coupons printed or saved to a store loyalty program) on Coupons.com and the Coupons.com network in 2012 relative to its population size. With an index of 422, Atlanta residents are 4 times more likely to print coupons or save them to a store loyalty program than the average American city dweller.